The Next Generation
by ILoveEclareForever
Summary: Clare Edwards and Eli Goldsworthy left Degrassi years ago, but when their daughter, Skye, gets involved with a certain Fitzgerald, drama ensues. Review pleaseeee ;*
1. Chapter 1

My parents drove me up to the big building. Degrassi. It was my sophomore year at a brand new school. I knew no one except my identical twin sister. I was terrified. I pulled my dress-code skirt and blue T-Shirt that we recieved at orientation. My parents said that they were part of an incident where my dad almost got stabbed, or something. That's when the school had a major crackdown and there was a dress-code and a bunch of rules that still are in effect thirty years later.

"Go ahead, Skye," My mom said. My sister was so excited to go and my mom knew if they didn't drop us off, I wouldn't go. Her shoulders slumped when she saw me shaking. "Honey, it isn't that bad," She said, trying to reassure me.

"Yeah, this is where I met your mom," My dad chimed in.

I opened the car door and said, "Thanks guys for, you know, ruining my life by trying to bring back your own childhood. I don't want to be like you guys. I liked my old school," I said, getting out and slamming the door.

There I was. Degrassi community school. Oh God. My sister, Renee, got out on the other side of the car, glared at me, and said, "Nice stunt you pulled there. Mom and dad are just trying to help."

"Okay, Renee. Go be perfect somewhere else and leave me alone," I snapped at her. She was always the pretty one. The smart one. The nice one...

I walked up to parked car that my parents were sitting in. "Guys, I'm sorry. I just don't want to start over. My friends live so far away. I'm going to be alone," I said.

"Hey, you'll have your sister," My dad said.

I groaned. "Bye guys. I love you," I said, walking towards the front doors.

Degrassi.

I walked to my first period history class with the help of four teachers. I got in after the bell and sat down.

"Nice of you to join us. Excuse me, Miss, what's your name?" The teacher said.

"I'm, uh, Skylar Goldsworthy," I said. He nodded his head and marked something down on a piece of paper.

The boy behind me poked my shoulder while the teacher was talking. "Hi," He whispered, smiling. "You're new to this school, too, huh?" I blushed. He was cute.

"Is it really that obvious?" I asked, smiling back at him.

"The fact that you were about twenty minutes late totally didn't give it away," He laughed, quietly.

"That's embarrassing," I whispered, laughing with him. "I'm Skye."

"My name is Cory, but just call me Fitz," He said. He smiled again.

"Why Fitz?" I asked him.

"My last name is Fitzgerald. I hate my first name. End of story."

"Hey, guys, class expectation sheets are in front of you. Turn around Ms. Goldsworthy," The teacher said.

I blushed and turned around in my seat. I looked down at the paper. The teacher's name was Andrew Torres. He talked the rest of the class period about pointless things. All I was thinking of was the mysterious guy sitting behind me.

When the bell finally rang, I got up and fixed my annoying clothes. "Hey, stranger," Fitz said from behind me. I laughed.

"So, other new kid, where are you off to?" I asked, staring at the map of the school that didn't seem to work.

"Geometry. You?" He asked.

"Uh, gym. Fun, fun, fun. Bye," I said to him, realizing the gym was on the other side of the building.

When I got into the gym, the bell hadn't rung yet. I sat down on the bleachers with the rest of the unlucky people stuck with second period gym. The bell rang and three teachers stepped out. "You guys can call me Sean," The teacher with a buzz cut and blue eyes said.

"You guys can call me Emma. I'm the fitness instructor. Sean teaches pretty much everything and she," Emma said, motioning to the tall lady next to her, "She helps kids with their skills in games. Her name is Alex. We all attended Degrassi as students and couldn't wait to come back. This is Sean's first year here. He spent some time in the army and then took a break and decided to be a gym teacher here at his old school."

As I was listening, I heard loud high heels walking through the gym. I looked over. I saw the girl with short curly black hair, like mine, and bright blue eyes, like mine, walking with a dramatic entrance over to me. "Skye! You have gym this period, too?" She sat right next to me.

"Hey, Renee," I mumbled to her. The gym teachers gave us up and down looks.

"Looks like we have twins here," Emma said. We looked identical because we were wearing the same blue colored shirt and khaki skirt. Renee, of course, was wearing her signature heels, and I was wearing my signature Converse sneakers. She was wearing a lot more make up than me. I only wore eyeliner. She was wearing earrings and I was wearing my lip ring. We might be twins on the outside, but on the inside we couldn't be anymore different.

Through the whole class, the gym teachers took turns talking about how much fun Degrassi is. Renee told me how she got hit on by so many guys in the hour she was at Degrassi. Liar.

The whole day was pretty much teachers telling the class the rules. When the final bell rang, I ran to the front of the school to get picked up by my parents. Guess who I ran into, literally.

"Oh my gosh, Fitz, I'm so sorry!" I said, holding my hand out to pick him up off the ground. He was laughing.

"So how was your first day?" He asked. He was still holding my hand. I think he realized that the same time because he let go.

"Good. How many times did you get lost?" I asked him, smiling.

"Less than you," He said, smiling back. "So do you have a twin?" He asked. Ugh, he likes Renee...

"Yeah, why?" I asked. "Do you have the unfortunate opportunity of having a class with her?"

He laughed. "Nice way to put it, and yes. You are so much different then her. In a good way," He said. "I thought it was you and then she started talking and I was like she's not Skye." He laughed.

I smiled and looked down. I heard a pair of high heels running down the hall. "Speak of the devil... I have to go. I'm sorry. I'll see you tomorrow," I yelled back at him as Renee linked her arm around mine and was pulling me down the stairs to the car.

"_Who _was that?" She said, as soon as he was out of ear shot.

"No one," I said, still smiling.


	2. Chapter 2

As I got into the car, my heart was still beating at a million miles per minute. My parents looked at me with wierd expressions.

"Today... it-it was good," I said, still in a trance. They smiled at me.

"So who was that you were talking to, Skye?" My dad asked.

"My friend, Fitz," I said. His eyes gazed passed me at the tall boy with long brown hair and green eyes.

"Fitzgerald?" My mom asked me, trying to get my dad back to reality. What was going on?

"Uh, yeah. Why?" I asked.

"We grew up with someone named Mark Fitzgerald. I wonder if they are related," My mom said, whispering something into my dad's ear as we drove off. My phone started vibrating in my hand. Renee was texting me. Seriously?

"Someone has a boyfriend. Someone has a boyfriend," I read outloud, sounding bored, so that my parents couldn't hear. "Wow, that's mature."

"You know it," She said, giggling.

The night went by slow. At the dinner table, I had to ask.

"So what happened with that Fitzgerald guy?" I said to my parents.

My dad breathed in and sighed, "Fitz was the one who almost stabbed me. It was at the Vegas Night dance and we had a stupid on going war and he made your mom take him to the dance because she wanted to stop the fighting. I wanted her to put something in his drink that would make him puke, and she said no and was mad at me. She went to talk to Fitz and he had a knife. She went to find me to tell me and she found me at the same time Fitz did. He cornered me into the wall holding his knife. He stabbed it into the wall and the cops came and took him away. That's one of the reasons why you have to wear those terrible clothes," He said.

"I-I didn't know that happened. I'll ask him if he's related to him," I said, twirling my spaghetti around my fork with no intention of actually eating it.

"So on a brighter note, do you and Renee have any classes together?" My mom said, changing the subject.

"Yeah, we have gym and biology together," I said. "Oh and speaking of bio, our teacher asked about you two for some reason."

"What's the teacher's name?" My dad asked.

"His name is Mr. Torres. I have his brother for history," I said, while Renee was ignoring everyone and texting.

My parents looked at each other, "Adam?"

"Yeah," I said. "Why?"

"Holy shit! I can't believe we didn't keep in touch with Adam," My mom said.

"Well, back to school night is sometime soon so you can see him then," I said.

After that, I got up and went to my room. I wrote in my journal about Fitz and that story my dad had told me. They couldn't be related, could they? Whatever.

I looked at the clock and it was ten thirty. I got in my pajamas and yelled goodnight down the stairs. When I didn't hear a response, I sat at the top of the stairs and listened quietly to my parents talking.

"Clare, she can't be getting involved with someone like that," My dad was saying to my mom.

"Eli, you don't even know if he's actually related to Fitz," My mom said.

"Even if there's a chance... Clare, we can't let her get involved. She has enough problems," My dad said, referring to my mild depression.

"Eli, just calm down, everything will be better in the morning and we can just hope for the best. I mean, what if Fitz is his dad or something and he is nothing like him. Just don't think of the worst that could happen," My mom said. I heard slippers scuffing on the floor and knew my mom was on her way up the stairs. I ran into my room and jumped in bed. I eventually dozed off.

I woke up with a jolt of pain. I realized I had hit my head on the headboard of my bed. I looked at the time and it was two thirty in the morning. I didn't have any recollection of a dream, but knew I had had one. When I pulled off the covers, I realized I was drenched in sweat. What did I dream about? I gave up and went back to sleep.

I woke up again at six when my alarm went off. I got up and pulled on my skirt and shirt. I went into the bathroom and put my eye liner on. I went downstairs and my parents had Pop-Tarts on a plate waiting for me. I grabbed them and said thanks. When I looked at the clock it was six-thirty. I move really slow in the morning. The bus picks Renee and me up at six forty. I went to her bedroom and knocked on her door. With a mouthful of Pop-Tart, I yelled at her to wake up. I decided to leave without her and was standing at the bus stop when I saw Fitz.

"Hey, new girl," He said, walking over to me.

"I swear you are stalking me," I said, smiling at him.

"Guilty," He said, raising his hand.

"Oh my God," I said, staring at my sister.

"What?" Fitz asked.

"She gets ready in three minutes and makes me look like shit," I said. I laughed, "I have always been the ugly twin."

He smiled, "I don't see it." Aw. I smiled.

The bus pulled up and we all got on. I sat next to Fitz and continued our conversation, "So, uh, why did you move here?"

"Because I wanted to stalk you, obviously," He said, flashing me another smile, "My dad went to Degrassi as a kid and he wanted me to experience it. Why did you move here?"

I laughed and said, "My parents did the same exact thing to us. Maybe our parents went to school together. What's your dad's name?" I asked, hoping. Hoping. Hoping.

"My dad's name is Mark," He said. All the air in me was knocked out. Really, God? I meet the best guy ever and his dad is the guy that tried to kill my dad? "Skye?" Fitz's voice broke through my thoughts.

"Sorry, what?" I asked.

"What are your parents' names?" He asked.

"My mom is Clare Edwards, well now she's Clare Goldsworthy, and my dad is Eli Goldsworthy," I said, watching his expression change.

"Eli Goldsworthy? You're Eli's daughter?" He asked me.

"You didn't get that by my last name?" I asked and he laughed.

"I've heard stories about your bad-ass dad," He said.

"Same here," I said.

"So did that thing hurt?" He asked, gesturing to my lip ring.

"Yes, but it was totally worth it," I said. 

"So how do you kiss with it?" He asked. "Like wouldn't it hurt?"

"You tell me," I said, kissing him.

When we pulled away from the kiss, he was smiling.

"It doesn't hurt," He said, laughing at my bright red face.


	3. Chapter 3

I just kissed Fitz. I didn't know what to do. I was bright red.

He laughed and looked at me. "I'm so happy my dad made me move," He said.

I sighed happily and looked at the window. "Me too."

I saw Degrassi in the distance and I put my bag on my shoulder and accidently bumped Fitz in the face. He laughed, "That hurt, though."

"Sorry," I said, smiling at his bright blue eyes. I was so happy.

Then reality set in.

"Oh my God," I said, not meaning to say it outloud.

"What?" He said, standing up to get off the bus.

"Your dad... My dad... What?" I was so confused.

He smiled and grabbed my hand and guided me to the front hallway of Degrassi. "What do you mean?"

"Your dad... He tried to kill my dad... My dad... Oh my God," I was rambling on.

"Skye," He said, stopping and pulling my arms so I was looking straight up at him. "I'm nothing like my dad. He left my mom when he found out she was pregnant with me. He was in jail most of my life." I squeezed his hand tighter. I felt so bad. "He got out a couple months after my mom died," Fitz continued, "I stayed in my house but when I ran out of food and money, I left. I pretty much slept on the side of the road and ate out of dumpsters for two months. When I heard he got out, I went to stay with him. I had no other choice."

I hugged him and put my head on his chest. "I am so sorry."

"So what about you?" He asked, putting another smile on his face. We started walking to first period. "What's your story?"

"I come from a perfect family. We seem like the happiest family ever. Everyone always has a grand old time. I'm the one that is never happy. My brother went off to college two years ago and the fighting got worse. Renee and I never got along and Thomas was our rock. He kept us sane. My parents hated how we fought and thought that we needed to go back to their roots. They thought a school with strict rules about everything would put us in line. She doesn't understand that she took away everything that made me happy. She's pissed that I fail classes. My dad totally understands. He was just like me and Renee was just like my mom. My mom was the perfect little girl. When she told us we were moving, I was pissed. I left the house and met up with my friend, Chelsey Coyne. We got our lips pierced. She was mad at her dad, Declan, for taking away her phone. That was our way of getting back at them. It was stupid. I haven't seen her since we moved. I miss her so much..." I stopped and swallowed hard, holding back the tears that came everytime I thought of my best friend.

I took my seat right in front of Fitz and he spoke up, "I totally know what you mean," I turned my body around in my chair so I was facing him. "I had to ditch my best friend and come here. It sucks. Max and I were like brothers. I spent every night at the Guthrie house. When I couldn't deal with my dad, I stayed there as long as I could. They were the best family I had. Now they're gone..." His voice drifted off and I grabbed his hand.

The bell rang and I turned around. Mr. Torres was talking, but I couldn't focus. Fitz had a much harder life than me, and I'm moping around. I saw something in the corner of my eye. A paper had fallen on my desk. I picked it up and could barely read the hand writing. "This class sucks," Was all the paper said. I thought of what to write back when a hand with manicured nails grabbed the note of my desk.

"Ooh what's this?" The girl with a high pitched voice said. She was sitting next to me.

"Uh do I know you?" I asked.

"Oh, I'm Alli DiMarco," She said. Her tan complexion made her huge blue eyes pop.

"Cool beans," I said, looking away from her after I snatched the paper back from her desk.

"What are you talking about? I thought you were going to tell me your name," She said, tapping her nails loudly on the table.

"Fine, I'm Skye Goldsworthy," I said, trying to sound irritated.

"What was up with that?" I wrote on the paper and tossed it backwards onto Fitz's desk.

I saw the paper fly back no my desk and I opened it. "I know, right? Who is that?" Again, the hand reached for the paper.

"Excuse me, but is it really your business?" I said, pulling it away from her.

She groaned, "Ugh but this class is just so boring!" She paused. "Want to hear something funny?"

"Enlighten me," I said, still looking forward.

"My mom dated the teacher!" She started laughing.

"Ew," I said, smiling at her. I looked at the teacher.

"Apparently he was super hot in high school. I mean like super-duper hot," She said, laughing.

His eyes were pretty, but his hairline was receeding, his stomach was fat, and he looked just plain creepy.

"That is just so... wierd. That will be awkward when your parents come in," I said.

"Oh my God. I know, right?" She was smiling. She was my friend. Alli could deal with my sarcasm. Degrassi really wasn't that bad.

"DiMarco, Goldsworthy, knock it off," He said, noticing us laughing. We started laughing even harder. I felt Fitz tap my shoulder.

"So you have a friend?" I smiled at him and nodded.

"Well let's hope you still have time for me," He said, as I turned around. For the rest of the period, I felt him twirling my hair through his fingers. When the bell finally rang, I waved goodbye to Alli and grabbed Fitz's hand.

"So want to get coffee tonight?" He asked.

"Of course," I said, smiling at him.

Who would have thought that I would actually like Degrassi?


	4. Chapter 4

I walked into my second to last period class with Renee. She had ran up to me in the hall. "Hey, the Goldsworthy twins," I heard our bio teacher, Mr. Torres, say to us.

"Hi," I said, sounding more like a question. I took my seat next to Renee. She turned to me and whispered, "I saw you kiss him."

I looked over at her. "So what? Why is it your business?"

"It's my business because I'm your sister and you didn't tell me," She said, crossing her arms.

"I still don't think it's your business," I said, looking away from Renee.

"You can just tell me. I knew you liked him. You're just a," She paused, and hissed, "Slut."

The words felt like a slap in the face. "How?" I asked her, feeling my face grow red.

"You've known him for two days? Slut," She said it again and it hurt.

"Girls," Mr. Torres said, looking at us. I felt tears in my eyes and I looked away from Renee. I wasn't a... a slut.

Or was I?

At the end of the period, I left as fast as I could and went to geometry. I saw Fitz in the hall and put my head down. "Hey, Skye," I heard his voice. Oh God, please think I'm Renee. I felt him grab my arm. "What's wrong?" He asked, grabbing my hand. I pulled my hand away.

"I just don't want this to go too fast, Fitz," I patted his hand and turned away.

"You're the one who kissed me!" I heard him say while I had my back towards him.

"I'm sorry," I said, looking back at him. "Friends?" He shook his head and backed away.

"Skye, this is stupid and pointless," He said as he walked away. I stood there dead in my tracks in the middle of the hall. I stared in his direction until the bell snapped me back to reality.


	5. Chapter 5

What did I just do? I walked into geometry really late and noticed someone I didn't notice before. "Hey Alli," I said, sitting in the seat next to her.

"Oh, hey, Skye," She said, turning to me. "So what's up? You look sad."

"I decided to stop something before it actually started. I made a huge mistake..."

"Cory?" Alli said, looking at me with her big eyes. I nodded, feeling tears in my eyes. "I knew you two had something going on..."

"Yeah... Had," I said, sighing.

"So why would you end it?" She asked. I don't even know why I let Renee get to me.

"We just met. I just wanted to be friends and he didn't. Well I mean we kinda both wanted to be more than friends. I'm a slut..."

"Oh my God, Skye," She said, "When the bell rings, go find him and tell him how you feel. You are _not_ a slut."

Even though I had just met Alli today, I felt close to her. She was actually helping me.

The class seemed to take forever. When the bell finally rang, Alli wished me luck and I ran down the hall. Again, I bumped into Fitz. I smiled at him and he looked away. I wasn't leaving him alone until I got an explanation. "So what exactly is so wrong with just being friends for a while?" I managed to say after a long, awkward silence.

He finally looked me in the eyes and sighed. "I just feel like I'd be wasting time being just friends with you." He was blushing and I could feel the red creep up my own cheeks. I turned and started walking towards the bus.

I turned around and looked at Fitz. "You coming?" He smiled and walked over towards me. I grabbed his hand and we walked to the bus together.

Renee walked up to me and Fitz after we sat down in a seat. She sat in front of us. I could feel her staring. "Slut," I finally heard her whisper into my ear.

"Renee, seriously, just shut up," I said, turning around to face her as Fitz gripped my hand tighter, trying to calm me down.

I turned back around and Fitz kissed my cheek. I heard her stomp her feet away. "Uh, Skye?"

"Yeah?" I said, looking into his deep blue eyes. He had a serious look on his face. "What's up?"

"Your sister... I think she likes me," He said, with a scared expression on his face.

"Oh my God, that would explain everything!" I said. The rest of the bus ride was spent in silence while my head was resting on Fitz's chest. I went right home and into my parent's room. There was a box labeled "Memories" in my dad's barely-legible handwriting. It had to be in here; My dad's yearbook.

I picked through a lot of stuff. There was an old watch. There was a picture of my dad in front of his old hearse. There was some skull thing from my dad's hearse. A bunch of rings. A picture of my mom and dad. The deeper I went into the box, the more pictures I found. They weren't of my mom, though. I shuffled through at least fifty pictures of my dad-tall, with black hair, and a smirk- and some chick that I had never seen before. She was short, had long, curly, black hair, had blue eyes, and was really pretty. I flipped the picture over for the date.

"Me and Julia. April 21, 2009." I read the words from the picture outloud.

"Skye?" I heard my dad's voice from the doorway. "What are you doing in here?" I buried the pictures back into the box and turned around.

"Nothing," I said.

He walked over to me and looked over my shoulder. "Why are you going through my stuff?"

"I was just looking for your yearbook," I paused. "Dad... Who's Julia?"

He let out a loud gust of air and looked me in the eyes. "Well, sit down. It's a long story."


	6. Chapter 6

My dad sat down on his bed and patted the spot next to him. I sat down, and he started, "Julia... She was..."

He kept pausing and I gave him a good look. In the picture that was still in my hands, he looked so young. His green eyes didn't shine the way they used to. His hair was getting streaks of gray. His side smile that was in the picture barely showed, unless my mom walked in the room. His face had more wrinkles, but he kept the same body shape; He was still slim and taller than he was in the picture. He looked over at me and I saw the sad look in his eyes. I could almost see the memories resurfacing in his mind.

He sighed and finally said, "Julia was the first girl I fell in love with." His eyes fell to the floor and he sniffled. Was he crying? "Skye... She died." He paused and looked at me. He wasn't crying, I decided. He was just sick. He grabbed the picture and looked at it, then he said, "We got into a fight ad she rode her bike away, then she got hit by a car." He flipped the picture over and stared for awhile. "This picture was taken by our friend, Rose. This was the day before she died."

"Why haven't you told me about her? You guys look so happy. Why were you fighting?" I whispered.

"We were fighting over some issues. It was nothing," My dad put the picture down.

"Obviously it was something," I said.

"We disagreed about something. I don't want you tell your sister," He said.

"Dad, please tell me. I won't say anything," I pleaded.

He hesitated, but then said, "I got Julia pregnant. I found out the next day when we were out to lunch. I drove and she rode her bike. She wanted to run away and get married. I was too young for a kid. I told her to get an abortion. She said no and told me that she hated me. She left and... and..." He cut off and I heard his sniffles get louder. I looked at him and he was crying.

"Why have you never told us about her?" I asked.

"It upsets your mom when I talk about her. Memories of Julia haunted me and I couldn't forget about her. When she was gone, I thought I was going to die. I thought I could never fall in love again, but then I met Clare... well your mom. She helped me organize my life, literally. She made me feel alive again, He paused and looked at me, "Skye, please don't hate her. I know you guys don't see eye-to-eye all the time, but she loves you."

I laughed. "Mom absolutely hates me."

He shook his head, "No she doesn't," He stopped and looked at his watch. "Skye, I have to go downstairs."

"I love you," I said, as he left the room. "Oh, wait, Dad!" I yelled.

"Nightstand, top drawer," He yelled back.

I looked in the drawer and saw it. The yearbook. The royal blue and yellow writing on the front cover was the first thing I saw. Degrassi: 2011-2012.


	7. Chapter 7

I opened up to a page of signatures. Phone numbers were written all over the page. Then I saw the handwriting that I had got used to seeing all the years I've been alive. "Hey, Green Eyes. I love you. Degrassi is going to suck without your beautiful face everyday. At least it's only one year. Hey... Why don't you scream at the top of your lungs? I love you so much, Eli. Love, Blue Eyes."

My parents were so cute back then. I smiled while I read it. I turned to a page and searched for a specific name... Mark Fitzgerald. I found him and stared at the picture. He looked just like Cory. I heard another knock on the door and my dad came back in.

"Hey, sweetie. I found something you might want," He said, holding a fist out towards me. I got up and walked over to him.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Open up your hand," He said. I did and he slowly relaxed his fingers out of the fist. In my hand was a shiny necklace.

"What is this?" I asked him, examining the silver chain and the guitar pick shaped charm on it.

"This was Julia's necklace. Before she left the diner, she gave it back to me. I had given it to her and she was mad. I was going to give it back to her when we were done fighting, so I just put it in my pocket." He paused and sat down on the bed. I followed, then he continued, "When I found out she died, I never took it off. Your mom finally asked about it. I didn't want to upset her, so I took it off. I keep it in my office downstairs. That's why I left before. Skye, I want you to have it." I smiled admiring the necklace.

"Why are you giving it to me and not Renee?" I asked.

He smirked at me and said, "Do you think your sister would even consider wearing something like this?"

I hugged him. "Thank you, dad."

He got up to leave and said, "No problem."

I grabbed the yearbook and went into my own room. I flipped through pages. My phone started vibrating on my lap. I picked it up and saw the name "Chelsey" flashing on the screen.

"Hello?" I picked it up.

"Heyo, fag. How've you been? Degrassi sucks, huh?" Chelsey was screaming on the other end of the phone.

"Dude, seriously, stop drunk dialing me. It's getting old," I said.

She laughed, "I'm not drunk, I swear." I heard giggling in the background and I rolled my eyes.

"Bye, Chelsey," I said, hanging up the phone.

I put my phone on my nightstand and walked over to my window. I saw a car pull up and a man that looked vaguely familiar stepped out. My heart skipped a beat when I realized who it was.


	8. Chapter 8

I ran to the top of the stairs to listen. I heard the knock on the door that I had been suspecting. My mom was talking happily on the phone to her friend. My dad wasn't home. I heard her footsteps approach the door. "Fitz?" I heard her stutter out. I heard the phone drop to the floor.

I went downstairs and stood at the bottom of the stairs so they couldn't see me, but I could see them. Fitz had a cut on his forehead and was soaking wet. The rain was pounding down. "Wh-What are you doing here?" My mom said.

"Clare Edwards," He said, looking my mom up and down. "You haven't changed a bit." He pushed passed her and walked inside.

"Why are you here, Fitz?" She said, backing away from him.

"I just heard of some stuff going on with our kids, that's all," He said, making himself at home by sitting down on our couch.

"What are you talking about?" My mom asked. My heart fell into my stomach like lead.

"They're going out," He said, like it was obvious. Crap, crap, crap, crap. I climbed up the stairs backwards but bumped into Renee.

"What are you doing?" She screamed. I shushed her and sat down on the step. She did the same.

"They are not going out," My mom said to Fitz.

"That is not what I heard," Fitz said.

"Whatever. I'll deal with it my own way. Can you just... Get out of my house?" My mom said.

"No," He said.

"Leave!" She screamed at him angrily.

"No!" He screamed. I moved closer to the edge of the wall to see what was going on. He had gotten up and grabbed my mom by the arm. By the look on her face, I could tell that he kept gripping tighter and tighter. She had tears in her eyes.

"Stop. Please, Fitz. Stop," She repeated over and over again. I saw something in Fitz's hand. It was a knife.

"Call the cops," I said to Renee. She ran up the stairs.

I took a deep breath and walked into the living room, pretending I hadn't seen anything. Fitz immediately let go of my mom and I saw the outline of the knife in his pocket. He was going to kill us. I sat down on the couch and my mom sat next to me. "Uh, Skye, this is Fitz," She said, rubbing her arm where Fitz's hands had been.

"Uh, mom, when is dad going to get home?" I asked her, ignoring Fitz completely.

"Hopefully soon," She said, sniffling.

I heard Fitz's loud boots on the floor walking over to me. "You're Skye?" He said.

"Uh, yeah," I said.

"You little slut," He said, sneering at me.

"Excuse me?" I said. My mom grabbed my hand. I saw Renee at the bottom of the stairs and she gave me a thumbs up. The cops were on their way.

"You little whore better stay away from my son," He screamed at me.

"Why do you have the right to tell me what to do?" I snapped back.

"Do it... Or else you're dead," He said, glaring at me.


	9. Chapter 9

"Why do I have to stay away from him though?" I asked.

"I don't want my son getting involved with a fucked up family like this one," Fitz said back to me.

"_We're_ the fucked up family?" My mom chimed in. Fitz looked over at her.

"Just leave my son alone," He said, still glaring at my mom.

Then I saw the lights. There was red and blue flashing all through the house and I heard Fitz yelling... and then everything went black.

I woke up in a hospital bed. I tried to sit up but there was a sharp pain on the lower right side of my stomach. I lifted up the covers and there was a huge gauze wrapped around where the pain hurt most. I tried to take it off. "Hey, you're up. Oh, sweetie, don't touch that," I heard my mom say to me. She was laying in the bed next to me.

"Mom, what happened to us?" I asked.

"Renee saw everything and she told me what happened. I can't remember anything either," She said. "When the cops showed up, Fitz was mad and he took out a knife. He stabbed me and you in the stomach. Renee was hiding. He didn't see her."

I clutched on my stomach. The pain killed. "How long have I been sleeping?" I asked.

"It only happened a couple of hours ago. You passed out," My mom said. She was reading a magazine as if nothing had happened. My dad came into the room in tears.

"My girl," He whispered, walking up to my mom and kissing her on the forehead. "How are you feeling?"

I tuned out my parents and stared down at my stomach. It was bruised and torn. I felt tears in my eyes and felt the sting once again. My arms had bruises up and down them and I could feel a couple bruises on my face. "Hey, Skye," I heard Renee's voice say to me. "I shouldn't have called the cops. You and mom wouldn't be here. This is all my fault," She said.

"Dude, no it isn't," I said.

"There's someone I think you need to talk to," She said and stepped out. Cory walked in with a fake smile plastered on his face. I couldn't even think of calling him Fitz right now.

"Cory, leave. Right now," I said.

"No, Skye. We need to talk," He said, sitting on my bed at my feet.

"About how your dad almost killed me? That's all that needs to be said," I said. My dad pushed my mom out of our room in a wheelchair. She must have been better than me because I could barely sit up.

"Skye, it wasn't my fault," He said.

"Why did you tell him?" I demanded.

"I didn't. He saw us kiss and he asked who you were and I used your last name. Big deal. I didn't think he would pull a stunt like this," Cory put his head in his hands. "This is so stupid!"

"Like it or not, this is the way it is going to be. I can't talk to you or else he will do worse. You have to leave or I will be dead. Do you understand, Cory?" I said.

He shook his head. "I hate my dad. He ruins everything that I have. He's in jail, Skye. He can't hurt you anymore."

"Where are you going to live?" I asked him, concerned.

"The streets. I had to when I was like five, so it isn't anything that I can't do," He said.

My heart broke for him. Aw. "Stay with me," I suggested.

"You bipolar little girl," He said, hugging me gently. I tried to hug him back, but another jolt of pain shot through me and I shouted. "Do you need anything?" He asked, with a worried look on his face.

"I have everything I need. A boyfriend with a psycho dad, stomach stitches, and a stabbed mother. My life rocks," I said, kissing Cory's hand, the only thing I could reach with my bad stomach.

"I'm nothing like my dad, Skye. I swear. I could never hurt you," He said.

"We've only known each other for two days, Cory," I thought outloud.

"Why should we waste time just being friends?" He asked. "We obviously both like each other so why wait?"

"To get to know each other," I said.

"Okay then. What's your middle name?" He asked me, smiling. I shook my head and smiled back.

"It's something you don't need to know. It's embarrassing," I said and he laughed.

"My middle name is Mark," He said. "You know, after my dad." He paused. "What's yours?"

I groaned. "Ugh fine. My full name is Skylar Rose Goldsworthy," I said to him.

"Rose? That's cute," Cory said, smiling at my bright red face.

"Okay... Last girlfriend?" I said.

"Meaghan Donahue. She had long blond hair and bright blue eyes. We went out for four months... Then she dumped me. It was a couple months ago. I'm over it now," Cory said. "What about you?"

"Thomas Mulligan. He had pretty blue eyes and shoulder length brown hair. We went out for a year and he dumped me. He was pissed because I used to get piss drunk at parties and completely ignore him. I was so different back then..." I said, cutting off.

"How?" Cory asked, breaking into my thoughts.

"It's one of the reasons we moved here. I used to go to a bunch of parties and get drunk and pass out. My parents knew that Chelsey was a bad influence so they took me here... Well not _here _in the hospital." He laughed and grabbed my hand.

"I'm glad you came here... I mean to Degrassi," He said, smiling at me. "Why did you do stuff like that?"

My face turned blank and I stared at the ground. "My parents used to fight a lot when I was a kid. I did everything I could to get their attention. I always wanted them to just stop yelling to realize I had a real problem. At first I did it to rebel. Then after awhile, I couldn't stop. I _had_ to get drunk or else I would go crazy. It took me a long time to stop and when I did, I just went psycho. When I finally got better, my parents wanted me as far away from Chelsey as possible. I was stupid. I finally had my life back together..."

"Wow," was all Cory managed to say.

"I'm glad you're here, Cory," I said.

"Hey, why haven't you been calling me Fitz?" He asked.

"A guy named Fitz tried to kill me earlier today. I'm not using that same name for my boyfriend," I said. He smiled at me. "What?" I asked.

"I like the sound of boyfriend," He said, leaning over to kiss me.

"Really guys?" I heard Renee's voice.

"Yes," Cory said, ignoring her and kissing me more.


End file.
